or Archivista, a keeper of an archive. Under the emperors the archivist was an officer of great dignity, held equal to the proconsuls, vested with the quality of a count, styled clarissimus, and exempted from all public offices and taxes. Among the ancient Greeks and Persians, the trust was committed to none but men of the first rank; among the Franks, the clergy, being the only men of letters, kept the office among themselves.